Lost in the Flickering Paintings
by CtheWalkingLibrary
Summary: Teddy and Victoire are sucked back in time to the Marauder's era by a mysterious book of paintings they found in Platform 9 and 3/4.
1. Platform nine and three quarters

**Hi everyone, background info… Fred isn't dead. Hermione is married to Ron, Ginny is married to Harry all those canons etcetera. Reviews are my soul for writing, I take any kind of feedback with relish so by all means tell me if you don't like it or if you do or if I can improve! I really hope you enjoy this story as much as I like writing it! xx**

Victoire lounged on a deck chair out on The Burrow's patio, sunglasses over her bottle green eyes and her blonde hair in a ponytail. She brought the straw from the glass of lemonade up to her mouth and took a huge sip. Delicious she thought, I must get the recipe from grandma. She placed the glass back down and stretched out her legs whilst reclining on the chair. She brought her hands up behind her head and closed her eyes. The sun felt marvellous, warmth seeping into her legs and warming her denim shorts and t-shirt. Perfect way to spend her last day of the summer holiday before returning to Hogwarts for her final year. She was just falling into a deep daydream when she heard Teddy's voice along with the other Weasley's.

"We need an extra player George" she heard the voice of Teddy say

"Well Ron and the others are busy which only leaves one option. I'm not going to ask her, you will have to do that."

"It'll be my honour George, not a problem"

It went silent and Victorie kept her eyes closed and pretended to be asleep. She heard footsteps approaching.

"Victoire" Teddy spoke right beside her left ear. She didn't reply.

"Come on Tori" Teddy tapped her on the shoulder "we need you to play"

She opened one eye and glanced at Teddy. His silky tousled blue hair covered by a cap and blue eyes boring into hers.

"Teddy…" she turned on her side to face him and leant against her arm after pushing her sunglasses to the top of her head. "You _know_ it's my last day!"

"All the more reason to spend time with me Torie" he whispered and gave her a wink.

Teddy's eyes saw her mouth twitch and he knew he had won "come on" he grabbed her hands and pulled her up from the chair "You'll play chaser with Charlie"

"Fine, but just so you know…" she said as they made it to the broom shed and took hold of their cleensweeps "you're going down Lupin" She knocked his Holyhead Harpies cap off of his head and took off into the air.

"We'll see about that Weasley" Teddy took off after her and once they reached to the middle line they faced each other. Bill was next to Teddy and George was their keeper, leaving Fred to be Victoire and Charlie's keeper.

"Don't look so worried dad" Victoire teased "we'll go easy on you"

"Oi, watch it cheeky. Look out for your own team! We don't need any help do we Teddy?" Bill said his long ponytail blowing in the wind.

"Course we don't Bill! Though Torie" he turned his head to look at her "might want to be extra careful"

"Care to make it a bit more interesting?" she asked raising an eyebrow

"Do you even have to ask?"

"Okay, person who scores the least amount of points has to be hosed by cold water for a whole minute."

"Fine with me" Teddy said "I'm not going to be the one getting wet"

He held out his hand and touched his knuckles to Victoire's as they did rock, paper, scissors.

"Ha!" Victoire exclaimed "This is the start of a winning streak my friend" she ruffled his hair and flew upwards.

"Ginny? Would you be able to throw the quaffle up to us please?"

"Sure!" A voice called out from the kitchen. A moment later Ginny came out, her scarlet hair flowing behind her.

"On my whistle. One, Two, Three…"

She threw the quaffle up and Teddy and Victoire dived for it. Teddy having longer arms snatched it from the air and headed off towards Fred's posts.

"Thanks, Gin" Teddy called out as she went back to Fleur, Arthur and Mrs Weasley.

"No problem!"

Fred managed to save Teddy's shot and chucked the quaffle to Charlie who took off down the field. However Bill managed to appear out of no-where and caused him to lob the ball over to Victoire.

Tucking the quaffle under her arm she sped off not-so-neatly dodging Teddy to get to the end of the pitch. However she had not completely evaded him. A streak of blue to her right caused her to switch the quaffle to her left side. "You're not going to stop me Teddy" she glanced to her right only to find no one there.

Suddenly the quaffle was pushed out from under her arm and sailed through the air. She glanced right and saw a smirking Teddy wink at her and take after it. Victorie shook her head, I'm not having that she thought, and swerved ahead of Teddy and snatched the ball out of Bill's awaiting hands.

"Sorry dad" Victoire laughed and flew up evading the hands of Teddy and Bill. "You two have got to become faster, not much gets past me. You know that Teddy!"

She soon concentrated as she came to the post and took aim. "Sorry Uncle George" she called as the quaffle sailed through the hoop to his left.

The game continued for another hour and finally the group touched down retired back to the living room.

"I do believe Mr Lupin, I owe you a one minute hose down!" Victoire grinned

"Actually that is not quite true Torie…" Teddy said with a small smile and a glint to his eye.

"What do you mean? You scored the least amount of points!" Victoire asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Actually George and Fred scored the least amount of points… I actually scored 15."

"That's cheating!" Victoire exclaimed

"No, it's not… I just found a loophole!" Teddy said as he dropped into the settee.

"He's right Vic" said Bill as he entered the room

"Of course you are all going to agree with him!" Victoire sighed and fell and sat beside Teddy

Teddy wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "I'm going to get you back for this Teddy, mark my words"

The group laughed and talked for a while before heading off towards the kitchen for dinner.

.

Victoire looked up at the clock in Kings Cross 10:45, she had exactly 15 minutes before she would have to leave everyone and board the express with Rose, James and the rest of the younger Weasley/Potter clan.

"Bye Mum, Bye Dad" Victorie said giving them each a big hug and she grabbed her trunk.

"I'm going to miss you all so much! I'll write to you every week!"

Victoire glanced across at Teddy who took her trunk from her and proceeded to walk to the seventh years train compartment.

She studied him as he walked beside her. His blue hair was messy like his Godfathers was and his lips were in a grim smile.

Victoire nudged him in the side "Hey, are you okay?" she wrapped her arm around his.

"Of course I am" he replied with a smile, however he still seemed distracted. "I'm just going to miss you"

"Oh", Victoire looked down at the floor "I'm going to miss you too Teddy." They continued walking silently, both wrapped in their own thoughts.

Suddenly Teddy grabbed hold of Victoire's arm and dragged her towards the wall. Then backed her into it. He put both hands either side of her head and lowered his head, his body lightly touching hers. She stared into his dark brown eyes, and saw her reflection. She looked shocked, her eyes wide however there was something else about her but she couldn't quite tell what it was.

"Do me a favour Torie"

"What's wrong?" she stuttered, her golden hair falling about her shoulders

"Kiss me."

Torie gasped and truly grasped what that thing about her was. It was attraction. She was attracted to Teddy Lupin. Victoire stared into Teddy's eyes. She knew she felt affection towards him, he was her best friend. But now she found him attractive. And he wanted to kiss her…

Teddy lowered his head slightly and finally closed the gap between their lips. And suddenly it was like a spark ignited. Teddy caressed her cheek with one hand and wrapped the other round her waist pulling her to him. Victoire went dizzy with emotions, she grasped his shoulder and ran a hand through his hair. His lips were soft yet insistent. Deadly.

However the moment broke when a shout erupted "What are you doing!"

Teddy turned, his hand still wrapped around her waist. "Get out of here James, you nosey parker! You're so much like your Uncles! I'm seeing Victoire off!"

Teddy turned back to Victoire slowly

"Teddy I-."

"Thank you so much for doing that Torie" Teddy sighed and ran a hand through his hair

"I…what…?"

"Chloe was right behind us and she was so pestering back when I was at Hogwarts"

Victoire's breath hitched once she realised what had happened "Chloe… right" she whispered "no, no problem at all"

All of a sudden the world seemed darker. The station no longer felt magical and her body no longer hummed from the kiss. She grabbed her trunk in a white knuckled grip and made to bid goodbye to Teddy. So silly, I didn't even know I liked him that way until a minute ago, I'm just over-reacting. I must be tired. That all happened so quickly… I'm just in shock. "Right, bye Teddy"

Victoire went to turn around and head onto the train however Teddy appeared in front of her.

"What? You still have at least 5 minutes left." Teddy looked concerned so she gave him a smile that should have won her a BAFTA it was so convincing.

"Okay, what would you like to do in my last five minutes of freedom?"

Teddy looked around his eyes darting wall as he leant against a pillar. He was still looking around when Victoire spotted something suspicious

"Hey, look at this!" she moved forward next to him and touched the bricks at the bottom of the pillar. "Some of these are really loose"

Teddy ducked down and started pulling the bottom brick fully out and that was when they saw that something was behind it.

"It's a book" Victoire breathed, and reached out to it.

She pulled it out of the hidden compartment and dragged it and Teddy into a corner hidden from the rest of the station.

"What's in it?" Teddy asked,his head next to Victoire's

She delicately opened the book and was enchanted by the colourful pictures inside. There were so many, but one that particularly drew both their attention was one of the Black Lake.

"The person who's drawn this has been to Hogwarts…" Victoire muttered

"I wonder if it's anyone we know? Is there a name?"

Victoire flicked back to the front however there was no name to be seen.

It was then that she realised how close they were. She toppled over to the side and the book fell to the floor. That was when the pages started moving. Teddy helped Victoire up before they suddenly felt a tug and they both were sucked into the moving pages.

Victoire screamed and clung onto Teddy's hand whilst holding the book.

They spun round, and around, and around, until…

"Omph" Victorie fell to the ground however her fall was surprisingly not so bad, she flicked her hair over her shoulder and looked around trying to gather her bearings.

"Ow"

"Oh my gosh!" Victoire whispered "sorry" as she rolled to the side to find that Teddy was underneath her.

She frowned, but underneath Teddy was…?

The other boy rolled over and they were faced with a seventeen year old with black messy hair and rectangle glasses.

"Where the bloody hell did you two come from?"

**What do you think? Please give me your thoughts! x**


	2. The Marauders

**Second chapter, so excited! I have always loved the pairing of Teddy and Victoire and I love the Marauders era so I am quite ecstatic! Like always (kind of like youtubers saying to subscribe isn't it...) please review! Any type of review makes me happy! (even critical ones)**

_"__Where the bloody hell did you two come from?"_

Teddy and Victoire stood stock still as they came face to face with non-other than James Potter. His eyebrows were furrowed as he inspected them whilst brushing off his trousers.

Victoire was the first to react "Um… we…" she ran a hand through her hair and looked at Teddy pleadingly.

"We port-keyed" Teddy said pointing at Victoire "didn't we Torie"

"Yes!" she replied pointing at James "That's right, we port-keyed here. We're transfer students from… from…"

"Beauxbatons?" Teddy offered

"You sound like you're not sure" James raised an eyebrow at the two of them, putting his hand in his pocket

"Oh, we are definitely from Beauxbatons" replied Victoire still clinging to the big book in her hands "My mother comes from France and we had a house in Marseille. I met Teddy at school, he came from Cardiff but decided to come to France because he wanted to experience some French culture… didn't you Teddy?"

"Yes, yeah I wanted to taste all the different foods and language and such…"

Victoire raised an eyebrow at Teddy 'really?' Teddy shrugged sheepishly.

"Anyway, when the holidays came round we offered that Teddy could come live with us seeing as his grandparents were quite happy… in Cardiff"

James looked thoroughly amused with the story however didn't interrupt, though he did take his hand out of his pocket, away from his wand.

"Anyway long story short, I decided that I wanted to come to Hogwarts for my final year and Teddy wanted to come back home and visit his grandparents. Hence why we are here now. Professor Dumbledore arranged a port-key for us." Wow that story came really easily… I hope he doesn't suspect anything. Victorie looked over to Teddy to find him looking at her appraisingly. She blushed and looked down.

"Though" Teddy stated "I guess Professor Dumbledore didn't expect people to be near this area at this time in the morning."

"It's eleven o'clock?" James questioned "I'm pretty sure most people are up"

"Oh… um?" Teddy stuttered

Victoire laughed "don't pay attention to Teddy, he thinks no-one wakes up before noon. He was always getting in trouble with the 'professeurs' in Beauxbatons." She ruffled Teddy's hair before asking "Do you think you would be able to take us to see Professor Dumbledore please…?"

"James."

Victoire smiled "James"

"Sure," James gave them both a grin and started walking up the bank "follow me"

Victoire slowed down to walk beside Teddy and whispered

"Oh my gosh. I can't believe it"

"Me neither, I mean that's James Potter! In the flesh!"

"What's happened, do you think we've been brought back in time?" Victoire muttered whilst leaning into Teddy's arm

"It seems like the only explanation…" Teddy suddenly went silent

"I can't believe you said you went to France for the food!" she poked him in the ribs

"Ow, hey!" he said nudging her back "I said language as well" they both started laughing as James said

"So, what are your names?"

"Oh, of course, sorry" Victoire said running to catch up to him, dragging Teddy behind her

"I'm Victoire and this is Teddy"

"Short for Theodore?" James offered

"No, actually" Teddy said "It's short for Edward which was my grandfather's name"

"So, do you two know much about Hogwarts?" James asked whilst opening the entrance doors

"Yeah, we've done our homework. And before you ask we already know what house we want to be in. Gryffindor"

"Really?"

"Yes, though I reckon Torie could be in Ravenclaw" Teddy stated.

"I'm not _that _smart Teddy"

They entered the corridor to which Dumbledore's office was located and James bid them goodbye.

"I cannot believe what is happening." Victoire whispered "It's so strange"

"I know… I can't imagine what Dumbledore looks like either, he must be a lot younger"

"Okay, should we enter?"

Teddy let out a sigh "There is just one problem" he said as he leant against the wall "we don't have the password."

"You're joking" Victoire whined "Perfect."

"Well I guess we better get guessing" Teddy walked towards the gargoyle "Harry always said Dumbledore was fond of sweets, and they were always his passwords when he was at school"

"Okay, um… Cauldron Cakes"

"Ice Mice"

"Fudge Flies?"

"Chocolate Frogs?"

"Pixie Puffs?"

"Skeletal Sweets?"

"Shock-o-choc?"

"Pepper Imps?"

"Exploding Bon-bons?"

"Bat's blood soup?"

"Acid Pops?"

Teddy huffed, "this isn't going to work."

"What are we going to do?" Victoire asked and sat down crossed legged

Teddy sat next to her "I suppose we could go and look for James, but we don't know the common room password either" he rested his head against the wall

"We're in a right m-,"

Suddenly the gargoyle behind them moved and behind it stood Dumbledore. His hair was a darker grey but still very long. His beard was tied in the front and his blue eyes sparkled behind his crescent spectacles.

"Who do we have here? He questioned the two on the ground

Victoire stood up hesitantly, "I'm Victorie Weasley Professor, and this is Teddy Lupin"

Recognition flashed behind Dumbledore's eyes "I see, and what are you two doing in Hogwarts?"

"Well, you see… we don't exactly know" Victoire started

"We were transported here by a book we found" said Teddy "but we don't know how, or why."

"Why don't you two come inside?" Dumbledore stepped back and motioned for them to follow him.

Teddy and Victoire rushed up the steps and with a swish of Dumbledore's hand the gargoyle moved ominously back into place behind them.

"First of all, how, may I ask did you find my office?"

Teddy answered "well, James Potter took us here-,"

"Our head boy"

"Yes," Teddy agreed "but we already knew where your office was"

"You see," Victoire cut in, leaning forward in her chair "we have both been to Hogwarts before, Teddy has already done his 7 years and I'm in my last… Well, I'm supposed to be"

"You must forgive me, I'm a bit confused. You two are very young" Dumbledore spoke quietly whilst walking around the room before sitting back down in his chair.

"When exactly did you two come to Hogwarts?

"Late 2000's" Dumbledore froze

"You were transported back in time by a book you say?"

"Yes, we found it in King's Cross"

Dumbledore leant towards the two across the desk and spoke quietly "you must listen to me very carefully. You mustn't tell anyone where you are from. And, refrain from telling me about the future unless it is very important or I ask."

"But what about us?" Victoire said, her voice rising "can't you send us home?"

"I'm afraid I have very limited information about time travel. I have only ever heard of it being accomplished via time turners. But for that magical property to be placed in an everyday object… That's very curious." Dumbledore leant back in his chair. "I'm afraid you are going to have to stay here until I can sort out this I could please have a look at the book in the meantime?"

"Yes, of course" Victoire handed over the book

"I have a lot of research to do. I assume you two know your houses"

"Gryffindor" they replied simultaneously

"Right well I will send James back here and he can walk you to the common room" the Professor stood up and walked towards the exit "it would look strange for supposedly new students not to have an escort."

A few minutes later Teddy and Victorie were being lead to the common room by the Head Boy and were avidly talking about quidditch. "We're both Chasers" Teddy said

"Me too, and I know for a fact, being Gryffindor Captain that we need two more players. My old teammates left last year."

He pointed at both of them "how would you two like to play this year? We really need to beat Slytherin and wipe that smirk off Lucinda Talkalot's face. She's the Slytherin's captain" he explained.

"YES! We would love it!"

Torie smacked Teddy on the arm "I'm sorry James, but we don't know how long we're going to be here for"

"Well, if you two leave before the end of the year then I'll hold more trials… not to sound rude…" James looked up his face a bit more serious "but you two _will_ have to do trials in a few days time."

"Not a problem" Teddy said throwing his arm around Victoire's shoulders "we'll be there!"

Teddy wore an incredible grin on his face and Victoire couldn't help but laugh "you can count on us"

"Good! Now, the password for the common room is 'Frogs Ears'." Teddy snorted

"Teddy, you'll sleep in the dormitory my friends and I share and Victoire I'll introduce you to Lily, you'll share a room with her and the other girls."

"I'm sure I'll get along with _her_" Victoire winked at Teddy but he wasn't looking at her. Teddy was looking down at his feet, appearing to be in deep thought. A deep frown upon his face.

"Hey" Victoire whispered "How are you feeling?" Teddy just shook his head and gave her a small smile

"Yeah Lily's amazing" James said wistfully. "If only she'd give me the time of day…" he laughed. They entered the common room and James led them towards the settees in front of the fire place.

"Hey Padfoot!"

James led Teddy and Victoire to sit down to a boy with shaggy brown hair who was lounged over the settee.

"Morning Prongs, who've you got here?" Sirius looked at Victoire gave a wink and slung his arm over the back of the sofa behind her.

"This is Victoire and Teddy, they have transferred here from Beauxbatons"

"Ahh, Bonjour chérie"

Victoire gave Sirius a sweet smile "Bonjour, vous vous rendez compte que je ne vais pas tomber de votre charme." Victoire smirked "Chéri."

Sirius kept his smile and nodded but spoke through his teeth "What'd she say"

A laugh came from the corner of the room "You're an idiot, Black"

"Oh yeah, and why is that Evans?" he turned and spoke to the approaching red-head

Lily leant over the back of the settee and extended her hand to Victoire.

"Je vous aime Victoire , je suis Lily"

Victoire laughed "Ravi de vous rencontrer Lily"

"So she doesn't speak English?" Sirius said, still speaking with a smile

"Of course she does you prat" Lily smacked Sirius on top of the head with a newspaper "she said, Hello, you do realise that I will not fall for you charm. _Chéri_"

The smile slid off Sirius' face "Oh, well thank you very much"

"Oh, but it's alright Black, you have the rest of the school fawning after you, two girls evading your charm, won't hurt you.

"Ahh, but this makes the challenge all the more interesting" Sirius sent a wink to the two girls

James coughed and sent a glare towards Sirius"right well that's almost everyone, the boy hiding behind Sirius" James laughed "is Peter, and Remus is upstairs"

Victoire felt Teddy tense up beside her, she moved her hand over his and gave it a squeeze.

"Ah, there he is now. Moony!" James shouted "come over here!"

Remus walked towards the group, book in hand whilst he put on his beige cardigan.

"Hello, who've we got here?" Remus said in a soft voice

"This is Victoire…?" James questioned

"We- welgar" Victoire stuttered

Teddy, stood up "Teddy, Lu- Lunas"

"Nice to meet you both" Remus said as he took a seat opposite James.

"They are transfer students from Beauxbaton's Remus" Lily said "and Victoire has already bested Sirius"

Remus laughed "Aw, Padfoot. I bet she didn't even give you a chance did she?"

"Not even a second Moony!" Sirius shook his head "you two will come round once you realise what you've missed out on. And then I will greet you with open arms"

Victoire laughed, at least someone was interested in her and not just trying to hide from someone else. Then she shook her head, no, that wasn't fair. Teddy asked her and she complied. They were best friends. Speaking of Teddy, Victoire glanced at to her side and saw he was as pale as a ghost.

Everyone else started speaking and Victoire rubbed her thumb across Teddy's hand.

"So I heard you two will be trialling for the Gryffindor quidditch team in a few days?" Remus spoke

"Yes" Victoire answered "we will be trialling, we have both played since we were little"

"I'm sure you'll be fine, and James will ease you into the team easily"

"Oh Remus, you're making me blush!" James proclaimed and pushed Remus' arm.

"I've got to say though James, you wouldn't see me dead captaining your Quidditch team. Rowdy bunch, not to put you off mind."

At the word 'dead' Teddy jumped up from the seat and rushed out of the room.

"TEDDY!" Victoire shouted and rushed to the common room door. The rest of the others had stood up as well confused looks upon their faces "It's alright, we'll come back in a bit." Victoire reassured them. Lily was the first to act, ushering the others back down. Victoire shot her a grateful smile and ran out the door.

She saw Teddy running towards the seventh floor corridor, taking off she followed him through a number of doors to the astronomy tower where he started pacing.

"This isn't fair Torie. THIS ISN'T FAIR" His hair turned white as he ran his hands through it. "I don't want to see him. It hurts too much". Teddy's breath hitched "He died just after I was born. I hear all these stories about how great he and mum were but I never met them. I never lived with them!" A sob escaped him "I can't talk to him and go back to a world where he doesn't exist. I just _can't." _Teddy collapsed into Victoire's arms and started to cry. She held him tightly stroking his hair. They stood there in silence until Teddy had calmed down slightly.

"I know it's hard," she whispered "it's hard, it hurts seeing everyone as well, but I'm trying to think of it differently" she pulled back and looked into Teddy's eyes and wiped his cheeks. "I know it's much worse for you, much, much worse. But you can spend time with him now that you wouldn't have had." A tear escaped his cheek and she rested her forehead against his. Her heart hurt for the pain he was in. "We get to become friends with them, we can celebrate and be a part of their lives. It's not what should have happened but it's something" Victoire started sobbing as she spoke and Teddy wrapped his arms around her and they held each other "It's something." They stood in silence, comforting each other until they decided to head back to the common room before lunch.

As they walked along the corridor Teddy and Victoire approached a boy with dark brown hair and near-black eyes. It was Evan Rosier. Victoire hugged Teddy's side and clutched his arm tight. Rosier fixed his eyes onto them and Victoire went cold. It was like he could read her mind, though she knew that was silly, he was too young to be able to be skilled in Legilimens. The only people who had achieved that were Voldemort and possibly Dumbledore. Seeing the future death eater made it dawn on Teddy and Victoire how dangerous a situation they were in. Once they passed him, Teddy said, "that was Evan Rosier wasn't it"

"Yes, future death eater, who was also killed by Moody" Victorie whispered

"He was also in the gang with Snape that all become Death Eaters around this time. We better be careful" Teddy said and looked around as he pulled Victoire into the safety of the common room.

**Thank you Miss Babbitty Rabbitty! I couldn't PM you!**


	3. The Crooked Chess Set

**Thank you to PanicTheNarglesAreComing22, JenUpsideDown and everyone who has followed or favourited this story! I feel like a very lousy author as I'm pretty sure it has been 10 months since my last update… I am so sorry! As always please read and review, any comments, long or short, good or bad! x**

Laughter met their ears as Teddy and Victoire stepped through the portrait.

"Hey! That's not fair; your chess set is crooked!" Sirius complained

"Don't be such a sore loser" Lily laughed

"I don't know Evans, you sure you didn't cast a charm on the knight?" James raised an eyebrow

"Of course _Potter, _because in order for me to beat the _enchanting, brilliant, attractive, best at everything, _Sirius Black, I'd have to have cheated." Lily crossed her arms

James shook his head "Now why don't you say things like that about me?"

Lily sighed dramatically and slumped in the settee, "I don't know…" Lily looked about her, as if the answer would appear out of the air. "maybe I don't see you often enough" she flung her arm to the back of the settee.

"Alright" James wiggled his eyebrows "go on a date with me"

"Not what I meant James" Lily laughed and glanced behind her as Victoire walked forward pulling Teddy's arm.

"Hey" she smiled warmly

"Hi," Victoire said and fell down next to Lily. Teddy sat on the armrest.

"So, what're we talking about?"

"Well, James is lucking out with Lily yet again, and Sirius seems to be losing chess" said Remus with a small smile.

"Maybe we should find a different game to play?"

Sirius barked out a laugh "I'm up for that" and swept all the chess pieces back into his bag.

"So, what do you suggest?" James asked

"We could play the muggle game trumps…" Teddy offered "though I don't have any cards with me…"

"Oh! I do" Lily, raced up the stairs and reappeared a moment later

"Sure, what are the rules?"

"So we each get an equal amount of cards, and one card is put in the middle. And we play 'hands' and whoever has the most tricks at the end of that 'hand' wins. Ace is highest card and two, is lowest."

"And the card in the middle determines the upper hand suit. For example if the middle card was hearts, then whoever plays the highest number heart card, wins that hand" said Victoire.

"Whoever hasn't won any tricks by the end of the round is out." Teddy finished and looked up at the others blank, slightly confused faces.

"Don't worry" he smiled, "you'll understand it as we go along, it's quite simple"

.

"YES!" James exclaimed and raised his hands in the air. "Another trick to me"

The others sighed James had won the past two rounds "Alright Prongs, let's make this a bit more interesting"

"What are you proposing?"

"The winner has to strip a piece of clothing and run around the grounds"

Lily threw her arm out over the table and pointed her finger at him "no."

"Actually I think that sounds like a great idea Moony"

"You just want everyone to see you with your top off" Lily accused

James grasped his hand to his heart "Evans, you wound me"

"What about you?" Lily turned to Victoire and Teddy with imploring eyes "please say you don't think that isn't a good idea"

They exchanged glances, "how about we have to tell a story?" Victoire said, Teddy smiled.

"What kind of story?" Remus said laughing

"Anything" teddy replied with a grin "absolutely anything that has happened to you in or someone else in the group in the past"

"_Teddy!_"

"What?" Teddy turned to her with a twinkle in his eye

Victoire mock glared "you know what I'm talking about"

"Not sure I do…" Teddy smirked "shall we start?"

.

Sirius threw his last card in top of the pile "I do believe that this round has a victorious King."

"Alright then" Lily scoffed "Lay your story on us"

Sirius stretched his arms up above his head and took a deep breath "I guess I'll start out with the heavy stuff, but only if you don't talk about it to me, for today at least"

"Alright" Victoire said, head resting in her hands.

"My family aren't the nicest people." Sirius shook a hand through his hair "scratch that, they're awful. They're dark and they absolutely do not like me. All who came to Hogwarts were Slytherin, 'cept for my cousin Andromeda, she and her family are fine, they're also outcasts 'blood traitor's…' She married a muggle-born" he explained

Victoire glanced at Teddy, who to her surprise wore a small smile, enraptured with Sirius' story. Content with his reaction she aimed her attention back to Sirius.

"Anyway… I used to do all sorts of things to annoy them, stuck up Gryffindor banners and pictures of muggle girls in bikini's on my wall with a permanent sticking charm. The old bat tried everything she could to get them off."

"Last year I left home, went to live with James and his family" Sirius lightly punched James in the arm with a smile "my mum then disinherited me, burnt my name off of the family tree. But my Uncle Al, he sympathised with me, gave me a huge inheritance" Sirius grinned, though his eyes remained dull "and I'm now financially independent. So hey," Sirius waved his arms "no downside right" his smile fell once again " 'course, then dear old mother blasted Uncle Alphard's name off as well." Sirius leaned back on his chair before fall forward again before the seat could topple over. "Anyway, that's the only dull story I'm going to tell"

Victoire opened her mouth to say something sympathetic but felt a pressure on her foot, she looked across at Teddy who shook his head 'oh right, Sirius didn't want us to make a comment today', she gave Teddy a small smile.

"Alright, who's dealing?"

.

Lily and James stared intently at each other and the table was deadly silent.

"And it all comes down to this" Remus whispered in a mock 'snooker commentator's' voice. "Whichever person has the highest card shall be the Trumps winner of this round… will it be Evans or will it be Potter?"

Teddy, Victoire and Sirius all drummed their fingertips against the edge of the table as the two turned their cards over and a triumphant cry emerged from James.

"YES! Oh Evans, better luck next time aye" he winked

"Of course James, you know I'm only warming up" her lips twitched into a small smile "Go on then, tell us your embarrassing story"

"Embarrassing story? We all agreed that it was whatever story you wanted to tell" James' brows furrowed beneath his rectangular glasses.

"Oh go on mate, we could all do with a laugh, and I know one story that's absolutely perfect"

"Oh yeah, _best friend_" James said between his teeth "and what's that then?"

"Adrian-,"

"No" James cut him off "I am _not _telling that story"

"What's this about Adrian?" Lily grinned

Remus started "Adrian caught-,"

"No! We don't know anything about Adrian"

"Well I'd hate to see how you'd react if you did know something" Victoire teased "come on tell us"

James mock glared at her before humphing "fine, fine"

He sat up in his chair whilst clapping his hands in front of him before placing them on the table

"Last year at some point I was in the common room and doing my homework"

"Ha" Sirius barked out a laugh "o'course mate"

James shoved Sirius' shoulder tilting this chair

"_Anyway_," James said pointedly "I thought I was alone so I flicked the on the Wireless of the Beatles, you know, that Muggle band?" James asked Victorie and Teddy, who both nodded

"Anyway, I thought I'd make the use of the common room being empty and started-," James start coughing

"Go on mate" Sirius taunted

"Singing" James mumbled

"What?" Lily grinned

"I started singing okay?" James shrugged his shoulders

"What song was it?" Lily grinned

"Hey Jude" James grinned

"I love that song!" Lily laughed "Want to give us a rendition?"

"No, thank you!" James scoffed

"Oh come on Potter, where's your sense of courage?"

"Went right out of the window when Adrian came down the stairs"

"Oh, so he caught you singing?" Teddy asked

"I wish that was only it… he had his bloody camera with him, and thought it would be funny to catch me in the act"

Peter chuckled, his cheeks turning red; James flicked him in the arm

"Hey! It wasn't funny alright. He caught the whole thing on film"

"What happened?" Victoire asked, leaning in

"I got the film, in return for a dare"

There was a moments silence before Lily started laughing "Oh Merlin! The rumours were true then?"

"What rumours darling?" James wiggled his eyebrows

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Lily crossed her arms and leaned back casually

"Alright" James smirked "Adrian, the sly fox, said that he would give me the film if I did whatever he said next. Within reason of course" he nodded to Lily

"So, within the next hour I found myself walking to the quidditch pitch in my pants only. I unlocked the shed retrieved my broom and flew into the air and around the circumference of the castle…" James sighed wistfully "it was actually very relaxing, very _freeing_… until I landed" James coughed and sat up straight again.

"I had just put the broom away and was walking back up to the castle when I saw a shadow approaching in front of me. I tried to find a place to hide but the closest thing was a tree about ten metres away..."

"Who was it?" Victoire asked

James muttered incoherently

"I'm sorry…" Lily leaned forward with a hand to her ear "I didn't quite catch that"

"Professor McGonagall" James said loudly, "Gryffindor's head teacher" James explained to Victoire and Teddy

The entire table burst into laughter except for Sirius and Remus who had obviously heard the tale before but still bore grins

"Anyway… that's my story… can we continue on with the game now"

"Prongs, you know that isn't everything"

"Yeah" Lily added "w-what did she say?" she stuttered through choked laughter

James groaned "I think the interaction went a little like this… As she approached me she frowned and asked me what on earth I was doing… I said…"

_"__I needed some place to think... and clothes generally constrict my thinking... and feeling the wind fly through my hair over the castle I feel I can think a lot better and fly at my best, you know… ugh… less weight dragging me down"_

_ "__Oh I'm sure"_ James mimicked Professor McGonagall

"Her face was a mask, still had tight lips which showed me she had some emotion running through her… I'll tell you, that Lady should play poker for England. Anyway…" James carried on re-enacting the scenario

_"__Perhaps you would find it more fitting to wear this attire at the next quidditch match Mr Potter?"_

_"__Oh, um… I'm not quite sure that that would be…"_

_"__It might distract the opposition a bit"_

"It was then that I caught a slight twitch of her mouth trying to hide amusement at my expense. She turned around walked back to the castle before saying over her shoulder"

_"__Back to bed, Mr Potter, and if I ever find you wandering school out of bounds dressed like this again I might assume something else has been happening"_

Lily started to uncontrollably laugh, and had to stand up "oh my gosh, she thought…" _hiccup _"that you-," _hiccup _"had been…" she pointedly looked at James before falling into the arm chair gladly accepting the glass of water Remus has produced.

After she had calmed down somewhat Lily spoke "what I wouldn't give to see that… you're lucky Adrian didn't follow you down there you know. Just because he was giving back one bit of film didn't mean he couldn't film another"

"Ah, that is where you're wrong Evans, girls don't only appreciate me for my looks you know" he tapped his head "it was in our agreement that he could not film the said dare"

"Oh, that's a shame"

"I know that one of your goals in life Evans is to see me in my underwear, but I didn't think you'd state it so readily in front of me"

Lily grabbed a pillow and smacked him over the head with it, "whatever Potter" with blushing cheeks she grinned "can we keep playing the game now? I think I'm getting the hang of it

.

After a few more rounds James suddenly straightened up

"Hang on"

The group went silent, confused faces looked back at him

"What's wrong?" Peter asked, looking around nervously

"Evans, what was the rumour you heard about me?"

Lily straightened slightly and scratched her nose "What do you mean? I heard the pants story"

"No, you didn't" James leaned forward so his knees pressed up against hers "you laughed too much, you definitely hadn't heard that story before"

"Of course I had, it was just more amusing having you say it" Lily's face slowly grew pink

"I don't believe you" James placed his hand next to Lily's elbow entrapping her between the armchair and him.

Lily went slightly breathless "well that's-," she swallowed "your problem"

"Come on Lily" at the sound of her name she glared nervously into his eyes "what other story did you find so amusing?"

Lily placed her hands against James' chest and pushed giving her a little space to race around to the other side of the common room which was now empty due to the late hour

"If there was nothing to hide then why are you running away?" James smirked before walking slowly over to her

Lily smiled and laughed "not hiding, just really feel quite tired now…" James was almost by her when she waved to the group at by the fireplace watching intently "night!" and bolted up the stairs

"Evans!" James sprinted up behind her, hand outstretched

.

A quarter of an hour later Victoire went up to the girls' dormitories to find her bed, as she opened the door she found Lily sitting on her bed chatting with a girl with thick blonde hair. She looked up as Victoire closed the door.

"Hey Victoire, I'd like to you to meet someone" she stood up and pulled Victoire to sit with them on the bed.

"This is Marlene Mckinnon, also known as the only girl in Hogwarts who can antagonise Sirius Black" she chuckled

Marlene out-stretched her hand with a grin "very nice to meet you Victoire"

Victoire shyly shook her hand before saying "I've got to see you in action then, it's hard to imagine Sirius rumpled by anyone"

Marlene laughed "ah, it's a gift. Anyway, I'm probably the only person who thinks he is still a womanising pillock"

"Oh Marny, I honestly don't think he is like that anymore, or even if he actually was ever like that. Sure he flirts a lot, but…"

"Don't try to defend him Lil, you've seen how he acts around me"

"Well, you two have a strange relationship"

"Excuse me; I don't have any relationship with Black" Marlene crossed her arms and leaned back against a pillow.

"Okay, okay" Lily put her hands up by her head in mock surrender, laughing she turned to Victoire "so I was meaning to ask you, what story was Teddy hinting at when we decided to tell tales as a forfeit for winning?"

"Oh" Victoire laughed "um, let's save that for another day yeah?"

"Oh, but-,"

"Anyway, I have something even more pressing to ask you"

"Alright?" Lily asked cautiously

"What happened when James came up here?"

"WHAT!" Marlene shouted "Potter was up here?"

"Calm down Marn, you very well know that boys can't get up the staircase." Lily stood up and went to her bed beside Marlene's and stretched "I ran up the staircase and reached the dividing one before James could reach me..." she frowned "though before he went up the boys staircase, he did call up… he said that I wouldn't be able to hide this way for much longer"

Victoire sat down on the empty bed beside Lily's assuming it was meant for her "what do you think he meant by that?"

"Perhaps he meant he'd get the story out of me another time?" Lily bit her lip

"I don't think so, those boys are scheming…" Marlene said

"Well you've got that right"

"I bet Potter was meaning that the staircase isn't going to be a barrier for him much longer"

"What? How would they do that Marn? The enchantment on the staircase has been here for years"

"I don't know, but if they manage to overcome the enchantment and think they can come up here they have another thing coming." Marlene lay back on the bed and kicked her feet in the air

"Well let's hope for all our sakes that the enchantment stays in place!" Lily laughed

"I don't suppose you know where I can get some pyjamas do you?" Victoire asked

"Oh sorry, completely forgot." Lily jumped up and reached beneath Victoire's bed "Professor Dumbledore sent this over a couple of hours when you and Teddy went out for a bit"

She pulled out a trunk onto the bed "it seems your family sent your luggage separately!"

"Yes" Victoire laughed uneasily "that was probably wise, it was quite overwhelming arriving here"

"I can imagine" Lily said before noticing the girl on the bed next to Marlene's, "oh before I forget," Lily gestured to the sleeping form beneath the quilt "this is Mary Macdonald… Hey Marn?"

"Hmm?"

"Was Mary alright earlier? She seemed a bit upset when I came up"

"Oh, yeah, I noticed that too!" Marlene sat up and frowned "when I came up it looked like she had been crying and when I tried to ask her what was wrong she insisted she was fine"

"That's weird" Lily bit her lip softly

"We'll ask her in the morning" Marlene smiled "we'll make her tell us what's wrong, if anything is, don't worry"

.

Teddy sat back on his bed and settled under the covers closing his eyes and listened to the soft undertones of Sirius and James talking quietly. Remus had fallen asleep just before and Teddy tried to ignore anything Peter was doing.

He slightly opened his eyes and looked across at Remus' bed, whose covers were rising slightly up and down in the rhythm of his breathing. Teddy huffed and buried his head into his pillow, feeling a mixture of emotions. Perhaps I do need to embrace this time together, he thought back to Victoire's words. Sighing he sank into the mattress, a small smile on his lips in comfort with the knowledge that his dad was alive and with him, if only for this time…

**I'm really enjoying this story, I can see it all before my eyes and I love these characters so much! Very excited we have now met Marlene and Mary! **


	4. The Omission

**A/N: This chapter contains minor dark themes within the first scene and swearing. **

"Lil have you seen my glasses?"

Victoire woke with a start as Marlene's voice spoke loudly in the room

"Marny, shh!" Through blurry lids Victoire saw Lily rush to the dormitory door where Marlene was standing.

"Oh, crap!" Marlene's eyes went wide "Sorry Victoire, I always forget not everyone gets up at the crack of dawn like I do"

"That's okay" rubbing the sleep from her eyes Victoire yawned and adjusted her pyjamas before getting out of bed "I really need to get a good amount of time to get ready if I'm going to be awake for classes today" she laughed

"Still, I'll be more aware in future" Marlene smiled "so, anyone seen my glasses?"

"You only got the prescription a few days ago Marny, how'd you lose them so fast" Lily joked

Marlene wiped her arm over her forehead fixing her hair "I don't know" she groaned. It was then that Victoire noticed her attire

"Do you go running in the mornings?"

Marlene glanced down at her clothes, "oh yes! I like to do a couple laps around the school each morning to wake me up, and to keep fit for quidditch."

"Oh, you play quidditch?"

"I do play the beautiful game, I'm a beater" she jokingly put her arms up in a weight lifters pose as she walked over to her bed and began to pull out her school blouse and skirt. As she started to get changed, Victoire turned to Lily

"Do you know where I would be able to find out what my timetable is?"

Lily gasped "Yes! Sorry, with all the excitement last night I totally forgot to give it to you, Dumbledore sent it over yesterday" She walked over to the bedside draw that was next to Victoire's bed and pulled out a piece of paper

"Here you go, sorry about that." Lily grabbed a hair tie and put her scarlet hair up into a ponytail "I think we are in the same classes, all except for charms which you have 5th period today, so I can take you round to each of those"

"Thank you! That would be great" Even though she wasn't new to the school, the students were new to her, so it would be nice to have a friend

"I can take you to charms" Marlene said whilst putting on her jumper "my class is quite nearby, so it will be no bother"

"Thanks Marlene" Victoire smiled, however she dropped it when she spotted Marlene looking behind her

"Morning Mary" she said whilst going to sit on her friend's bed

"Morning Marny" Mary offered a small smile before tucking her hair behind her ear and looking down

"Everything okay?" Lily asked "You looked a bit upset last night"

"Oh yeah… that" Mary slipped her feet out of the bed and walked to her chest of clothes, pulling out her uniform and a cardigan "That was nothing, I was just a bit tired"

Marlene and Lily shared a worried glance

"Mary, I know you said you were fine last night, but you know you can tell us anything right?" she reached forward rubbing a thumb over her friends arm

"Yeah… I know I…" Mary glanced around and her eyes landed on Victorie "oh hello" she grimaced, Victorie guessed it was her attempt at a smile "who are you?"

Victoire stepped forward offering a small smile "Hi, I'm Victorie. My friend Teddy and I arrived here from Beauxbatons yesterday." She blurted everything out, a bit nervously "My mum is from France and my dad is from England, and Teddy was living with his grandparents until he decided he wanted to come to France to experience a new culture and try out his French, and that's when he met me" Victoire blushed "anyway, long story short he lived with my family and when my parents wanted to come back and live in England again, Teddy was more than happy. To see his grandparents, that is, not to escape my family, we aren't weird or anything. Anyway, here I am, at Hogwarts." She glanced up looking at Mary's slightly astonished face "sorry, that came out really fast" _oh crap _she thought _was that the story we told James? I really hope it was_. Making sure her expression showed none of her worry, Victoire sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Victoire" Mary said softly before sitting on her bed too "I guess we had better go down to breakfast" she wiped her hands on her skirt and bit her lip

"Mary" Lily pushed "tell us what's wrong"

Mary tucked the hair that had fallen in front of her face behind her ear again "I told you" she said slowly and carefully, though her eyes looked suspiciously sparkly "n-nothing's wrong. I'm f-_fine_" On the last word her voice cracked and she started sobbing.

"Mary!" Marlene rushed to her friend's side and pulled her into a hug

"That's it" Lily knelt at the girls feet "you're going to tell us what's happened"

"Has someone done something?" Victoire asked softly, not sure if it was her place to get involved or offer advice

Mary nodded "yesterday afternoon…" Mary wiped the tears from her cheeks and sniffed

Victoire searched the room for some tissues, and rushed to give her some

"I was in the second floor corridor, about to go to the staircase and back up to our common room after Transfiguration" she stopped for a second but after some encouragement, continued "and Mulciber stepped out from behind one of the statues"

"That bastard" Marlene spit out "what the hell has he done?"

Lily cast a calming hand on her friend before telling Mary to continue

Mary fiddles with the ends of her cardigan, not looking up "he came up to me and backed me up into the wall" she started breathing faster and silent tears poured down her cheeks "I tried to escape, but he took out his wand and pointed it against my neck." She stood up suddenly and started pacing around the room "I tried to scream but he cast a silencing charm"

"Mary" Marlene gasped

"He cast a spell, I don't remember the incantation, but I was thrown upside-down. My skirt fell towards my chest and… he roamed his filthy eyes over me. I could do nothing." Mary's fists formed tight balls "I was beginning to see red, and all the blood had gone to my head before he heard footsteps and released the curse… My legs were so shaky I couldn't do anything as he forced me behind a statue until the person had walked past, and then said '_I'll see you soon, Pet'_" She spat out "I felt so helpless and violated"

"He's evil" Lily said and walked over to her friend before pulling her into a hug, tears in her eyes

"And he's not going to get away with this" Marlene growled, fire in her eyes

"You're right" Victoire said "but what exactly are we going to do?"

Marlene stood abruptly "first off, we are going to show him that he has no power" She grabbed Mary's shoulders lightly, in a softer voice she added "we need to show him that you are not affected by his stunt". "Do you think you can continue to be the strong confident woman I know you are?"

Mary's face hardened, and she nodded

"Good. Then we can make him wish he never crossed our, or anyone else's paths"

.

Teddy started to get anxious when Victoire and the girls still hadn't come down to the great hall, and the boys were almost finished breakfast.

"Hey" Sirius nudged James, knocking the sausage off his fork before it made its way to James' mouth.

James shoved Sirius' arm, "you know, I always thought you liked breakfast. Yet here you deprive me off this delicious meat cooked by the lovely house elves who are certain to make it just the right way, so we, the handsome charmers of the Gryffindor table can make sure we win the Quidditch cup. Maybe you don't want Gryffindor to win" James said with mock outrage

"You are full of a load of rubbish" Remus choked on his toast

"Mate, please. All I was going to ask you was did you manage to catch up with Evans last night?"

"Oh" a dreamy look fell over James face "nah, I didn't. She managed to dodge me and made it to the girls' staircase before I could catch her"

Peter excitedly said "that won't be a problem much longer though will it"

Teddy suddenly straightened "what?"

"Quite right Peter old pal, it shan't." James turned to Teddy "Sirius and I managed to create a spell to make our clothes confuse the system. All we need is a few more tweaks and we will be able to go up the girls' staircase"

"But you won't do anything to bother them too much, and if they want to you go then you will, _won't you_" Remus admonished

"No Moony, we won't bother them, _too much_" he winked at Sirius "I call it evening the playing field a bit. After all, they can walk up to our dormitory without a problem. But yes, of course if we are requested to leave and we can't persuade them otherwise then we will gracefully leave"

"Hey, speaking of the girls" Teddy spoke "is it normal for them to be this late for breakfast?"

Remus looked around them "actually, you're right. They are usually here by now"

"Ah, not to worry" James responded "here they come"

Teddy stood up as Victoire walked towards him, her face lighting up as they made eye contact.

"Morning" she said softly as they sat down and he passed her some orange juice

"Why so late?" Sirius asked grinning

"What's it to you black?" Marlene responded a smirk emerging on her face "trying to convert one of us to your fan group?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe I just missed your scowling face" Sirius retorted "dammit man" he hit James on the shoulder "she sees right through me"

James barked out a laugh then glanced across the table at Lily, "Evans", he smirked

"Potter" she nodded, before continuing to butter her toast

Remus looked up at Mary who was staring into a goblet of pumpkin juice "good morning Mary" he whispered smiling

Mary came out of her daze to find the source of the voice "oh" she smiled "good morning Remus"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just a crazy morning"

"It's only just started" his brows furrowed in a frown

"I'm okay, really. Don't worry"

"I'm your friend; of course I'm going to worry"

"Well, you shouldn't. The girls have already talked to me, and I'm better now"

"Well" Remus leaned forward "If you ever need someone else to talk to, I'm always here"

"Thanks Remy" she reached over and placed her hand over his for a second

"In the meantime…" Remus furrowed around in his school bag before exclaiming "aha. Found it" He placed a small bar of chocolate in front of her "your favourite"

Her eyes stared at it with hunger

"I want you to eat it before lunch time" he smiled

"That won't be a problem" she laughed

"I'm guessing you've met Victoire then" Remus stated

"Yes, I have" Mary whispered "she seems very nice"

They both glanced over to the pair sitting next to Marlene, laughing and talking together

"That's Teddy right?"

"Yeah"

"And he's nice?"

"Yeah, he's friendly. A bit quiet with us, but that's to be expected." He scratched his neck "there's something about him though, something at the back of my mind that I can't quite put my finger on"

Mary frowned "something bad?"

"No, not bad" he shook his head "just a familiarity of some sorts. I don't know, I'm sure it's nothing"

"Okay, well, be sure to-," she cut off, her body freezing

"Mary?" Remus questioned

"Mary, do you want a piece of toast?" Marlene leaned of Sirius who was frowning over at the Slytherin table who had just erupted in laughter. She then added in a whisper "remember what we talked about this morning"

Mary nodded whilst straightening her posture "I would love a piece of toast thank you Marlene" she said loudly.

As breakfast progressed and Sirius kept a wary eye on the laughter of the Slytherins, the girls left to go to class.

As Victoire and Lily walked down the corridor with Teddy, they were interrupted by the sound of running feet. They turned to see James, glasses askew stop in front of them. Victorie gently tugged Teddy to keep walking to the end of the corridor giving the pair a bit of space.

"Hey" James breathed

"Hey" Lily replied "you okay?"

"Yeah, um…" James ran a hand through his hair "I just... noticed that you girls were a bit different this morning and I was wondering if everything was okay?"

"Yeah, we're alright." Lily nodded

"Good!" James raised his eyebrows and his neck became a slight shade redder "well… I guess that was all"

"Okay, well, I guess I better get back to class then" Lily gestured behind her

"Yes! Yes, well-," James smirked and lowered his voice "we wouldn't want Hogwart's head girl to be late then would we"

Lily shook her head and scowled "James, you're head boy, that doesn't even make sense"

"Maybe when I'm around you I just lose my sense" he stuffed his hands in his robe pockets

"James" Lily groaned

"Yes my rose-petal?"

"Oh!" Lily fumed "you make me so infuriated sometimes!"

"Good. Then my work is done for the day" he winked

Lily huffed and walked briskly in the other direction to meet Victoire and Teddy

"Everything alright?" Victoire asked

"That James Potter" Lily whispered vehemently "is going to drive me mad"

"What's he done?" Teddy asked

Lily groaned "oh, I'm so confused. One minute I actually think he cares and the next he taunts me and only pretends to care"

"I don't think it's a pretence that he cares" Teddy said "I have noticed, in the short time I have been here that is, that James always has one eye on you, when you're in the room."

"Well then why does he try to annoy me so much?"

"It's a guy thing. He knows he'll get a reaction"

"That's stupid"

"That's men" Victoire said

"Hey!" Teddy protested

Victoire thought back to Chloe and the kiss at the train station, "well it's true"

"You wound me Torie"

"Yeah yeah" she replied, wrapping her arm around his back as they followed a very much in thought Lily, to Transfiguration.

.

"Victoire!"

A shout rose from the throng of students in the corridor and Victoire spied Marlene leaning against a wall, beckoning her with a hand.

"Hey Marlene"

"Hey! You ready to go to charms?"

"You betcha!" she laughed. After managing to squeeze through all the students dashing to their classes Victoire said goodbye to Marlene and entered the classroom. She handed the note Professor Dumbledore had written and enclosed on the timetable, to the teacher, Professor Flitwick, then walked to an empty desk he pointed to. He looked relatively younger, Victoire noticed as she took her seat, compared to the current time back home.

"Today class, we shall be revising our non-verbal charms and defensive spells. In your desk group partners find a space in the classroom to practice non-verbally casting and shielding spells."

Victoire looked to her left, noticing someone else was now sitting at her table. She froze when she recognised the black haired butch man beside her. Mulciber.

He stood up, walked to a corner of the room and raised an eyebrow at her. Taking a deep breath she rose, and slowly made her way over to him. Pulling her wand out of her pocket she stepped into the fighting stance she'd learnt a few years ago from her parents.

"Well, aren't you going to bow, newbie?" his voice threatened

"I don't see why I should" there was a pause "I- I mean, you haven't even told me your name" she laughed, remembering she wasn't supposed to know anything about his character

The man smirked "I go by Mulciber"

"Victoire" she quietly said in return

He laughed under his breath "that's a bit ironic"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you're not going to have much of that today" he narrowed his eyes

"Yeah, well, we'll see about that" Victoire rose her wand and cast a stunning charm, which he easily deflected

"Come on, that all you've got?"

"We aren't supposed to practice violent spells, just shielding and non-verbal"

"That's hardly fun is it?" He cast a spell and suddenly the area around them shimmered

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, it's nothing" his mouth twitched "let's just say, now nobody can see us breaking the rules"

"I don't want to break the rules" Victoire quickly said, and regretted. _There's nothing like defiance to make someone want to do something even more. Idiot._

Mulciber flourished his wand and Victoire's stance was broken as an invisible rope tied her ankles together and he stepped forward

Victoire quickly broke the spell, remembering her dad's lessons in curse breaking after the war

"Well, well. What do we have here?" Mulciber looked at her appreciatively

"I'm not sure I know what you mean"

"Well" Mulciber stepped forward "I know for a fact that that particular spell can only be broken by an equally powerful counter-curse, which only one other person apart from me knows. That is, as I was the one who created this spell. Except it appears you, know of it also." He reached forward and grabbed her wand wrist "now what I would like to know, is how you came by this particular curse"

"I have no clue what curse you used" Victoire shook her wrist, unsuccessfully trying to release her arm, "I simply used a breaking spell, now let me go"

"Breaking spells, do. Not. Work." He tugged her arm bringing her closer to him, so close she could feel his breath on her cheek.

"It was an advanced one." Victoire tried to ignore him towering above her, and think of a story.

"A classmate in France, once played a practical joke on me and my friend, and we were tied to a pillar in the dungeons for hours" Victoire took a breath, and had no problem in trying to make it come out shaky "once a teacher finally found us, they did a variety of spells to try and break the spell. Only one worked, and I made them teach it to me. I swore I would never be in a situation like that ever again" she looked up into his eyes, with a look she hoped looked innocent. His soulless eyes felt like they could see right through her as he pulled her closer for a second and then with a laugh, released her.

"Well, aren't you _lucky_ you knew a spell to help you"

"It would appear so"

He cast another curse, so fast she barely had any time to deflect it. Quickly she returned another not so nice spell until they were in a full out silent duel.

The only sounds passing between the two was wand waving and increasing takes of breath, until Mulciber cast a particularly nasty spell that would have put a massive gash in Victoire's arm had she not reflected it onto him.

"You bitch" he spat out as a red line slowly seeped into his white school shirt.

Victoire wiped hair out of her eyes "you cast the spell" then muttered as she straightened her clothes "you deserve a whole lot worse"

"What did you say?" Mulciber strode forward, forcing her against the wall, trapped her legs with his and struck his wand under her chin

Victoire laughed despite her anxiousness, "yeah, you like doing this to girls don't you Mulciber". She cast a spell that propelled him back wards two feet. "Well let me let you in on a little secret" she whispered loudly "you're not going to get away with it ever again".

"You don't know anything little girl"

"Well, in the short time I've been here I know you break the rules, intimidate, and try to molest girls." She took a breath "and if you continue to do so, you're going to get in a whole lot of trouble"

"Why would I? Nobody will ever catch me" he walked back to stand against her again

"Well" Victoire shook her head to the left and flourished her wand "your about to reveal yourself, I just broke your little sight barrier charm"

Mulciber stopped in his tracks as Professor Flitwick ordered everyone back to their desks

Victoire hurried back to her seat and pulled it as far to the edge of the table as possible as the Professor recited the homework for that evening. When they were dismissed she rushed out of the door and along a less occupied corridor to walk back to the common room in order to escape without anyone seeing her distress.

.

As afternoon turned into evening and Gryffindor tower quietened, the nine gathered in front of the fireplace, chatting calmly, enjoying the rare occurrence of an almost vacant common room. That was until a raven squawked at the window impatiently.

James jumped up to open the window and took the letter before the bird flew away. James frowned at its reluctance to stay. "Victoire, this is addressed to you"

Victoire's eyebrows rose in confusion and she looked to Teddy, who shrugged his shoulders. She took the piece of paper from James' outstretched hand and read

_If I were you, I wouldn't walk around empty corridors too often from now on._

Victoire paled and Teddy snatched the paper away from her

"Torie, what the hell is this?"

"What's it say?" Sirius asked

Teddy read the sentence aloud.

"Who on earth would send you something like that?" Lily asked

"Mulciber" Victoire replied quietly

"WHAT!" Teddy shouted, before realising what an overreaction that would seem for him to have, to the current group in front of him, and leant back into the settee. Luckily the rest of the group had a similar reaction, due to Mulciber's nasty tendencies at school and Teddy remained seemingly unnoticed, though Sirius did give him a second glance.

"How does Mulciber even know you?" Mary asked

"I was partnered with him in charms today… he may have tried something, and I might have let slip I knew how he treated girls…" Victoire looked down before looking back to Mary "I didn't say anything though, don't worry" Mary nodded, looking a little calmer, however glanced at the rest of the boys when she remembered they didn't know anything about Mary. Remus looked like he was about to shoot daggers

"What's this?" he asked quietly

"Nothing Remy" Mary whispered "nothing happened"

"Well obviously something happened, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation" Remus stood up

"Look, he tried to corner me, but someone interrupted him" Marlene flicked her eyes to Mary at her huge omission.

"Right, well, you aren't going to walk alone in the corridors any more then"

"Remus" Mary sighed with exhaustion

"I don't want to hear anything against it Mary. That creep is not going to go anywhere near you"

"I think that's a good idea, I don't think the rest of you girls should be alone either" James said

"Woah! Hang on a minute" Marlene held her hand up "we are _not _helpless. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself thanks"

"Same here" Lily agreed

Sirius growled "I don't think you understand how menacing a character Mulciber is" his fists hitting the couch pillow, and he shot Marlene a glare

"We know a lot more than you give us credit for" Marlene replied angrily, "we do not need to be body guarded. Come on you lot, I think it's time we left the boys down here. The testosterone level is getting a bit suffocating.

Lily stood up with Marlene and glanced at Mary as if to ask if she was coming. Mary looked at Remus' serious face and quickly stood up also.

"I think that's a good idea. A bit of sleep and we'll all feel a lot better"

Victoire stood up too, "I think you boys should probably get some rest too, it's quite late, and we're all tired" She squeezed Teddy's arm lightly to say goodnight, and rushed to catch up to the other girls who were already halfway up the staircase.

Hopefully a bit of sleep would do them all some good, she thought as Marlene's grumbling reached her ears from the top of the staircase. Or else we're all going to be involved in a huge discussion tomorrow.

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**Really sorry I haven't updated in about 4 months. I feel absolutely awful, however unexpected occurrences got in the way. But now I am back, my exams are finished and I have 8 weeks of writing bliss. Thank you to JenUpsideDown, nifflerstorm17008, and karpowics for your lovely comments, and to everyone who has favourited or followed; I really hope you enjoyed this chapter :)**


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